🌱 Unhinged “cheat codes” & the spotlight effect

Greetings from Austin,

Here’s your weekly dose of 3 insights in less than 3 minutes. Legggo. 

📦️ Packaging The Message  

I love the saying, "There are no new messages, only new messengers." 

In other words, all the information is out there. But what we resonate most deeply with, depends on how the messenger packages the message.

Courtney Johnson is a MASTER messenger. 

She goes viral on LinkedIn and Titkok on her own accounts (and as a ghostwriter for CEOs and brands). 

I studied her content to learn more about hooks, curiosity gaps, and language.

For example, one video she opens with “Cancel me, call me fake, I don’t care, here are the most unhinged things I’ve done to get ahead in my career…”

How can you not keep watching after that intro? (She then backs it up with legit advice.)

She creates repeatable series such as “unhinged cheat codes” that get hundreds of thousands of eyeballs.

I interviewed her on the podcast to discuss her (data-backed) creation process and how she builds personal/business brands.

Check out the episode on Spotify or Apple Podcast.

📈 The “Working Age” Trend

40 years ago, 11% of Americans aged 65+ were still working.

Today it's almost twice that (19%)!

These "older workers" are also 2x more likely to be self-employed (23% compared to 10% workers ages 25-64).

So what is going on here?

If the trend is to work more/longer, then eventually find something of our own....Why not rethink this earlier and find what doesn’t “feel” like work at all?

Reminded of two Naval insights to put this into perspective: 

1) Focus on WHAT & WHO (not how)

Makes sense in theory, but the concept of not prioritizing working hard can seem counterintuitive. 

Therefore we need to reframe it. 

2) What if instead of feeling like "work" it could feel like "play"? 

I use these 4 questions to remind myself of this:

1. What would the easy version look like? (what)

2. What are the infinite games I never want to stop playing? (what)

3. What feels like play to me, but look like work to others? (what)

4. Who are the people that light me up and give me energy? (who)

See article here.

🖌️ Cool Website 

I found this cool website called Sketchplanations where you can browse concepts distilled into simple sketches. (I like the cognitive bias category)

For example, the spotlight effect. 

The spotlight effect reminds me of this quote by Robert Greene:

Everyone is just worrying about themselves anyway. So why hide our “true” selves? Find that inner weird and let it shine baby.

Because sooner or later we run out of time. 

As Tupac said, "Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside while still alive. Never surrender."

Salud,
Mitchell